Reading Notes W8: Keats, Part X

John Keats was a man who had his literary career cut short. He only wrote works for five years before his life reached his demise. Even in such a short amount of time he managed to create works that still resonate to this very day. His influence runs deep as evidenced in the following, "And even in the briefest of writing careers, Keats produced a varied original, and formally dazzling body of work. His linguistic richness, taut craftsmanship, and skill in harmonizing sounds and rhythms have influenced many poets to follow, while he grapples with themes that have moved generations of readers: aching desire, the dreadful coming of death, and the seductive power of beauty" (403). Keats is most often revered for the rhyme scheme, structures and technical aspects that made his poetry so widely praised in the years following his death. He was also able to masterfully tie together themes and subjects that accentuated his technical prowess as described in the follow from The Norton Anthology of World Literature Volume E: "But he is more than just a craftsman: Keats's intricate structures are there to serve his exquisite meditations on poetry, love and the looming fact of death" (406). "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be" and "Bright Star" both deal with love and death, with the latter also using nature to express these ideals.

• "When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,/Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,/And think that I may never live to trace/Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;" (5-8, 407, "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be"). This quote directly correlates to the combined themes of love and death. The narrator dreams of experiencing love only to be paralyzed by looming death. The fear of missing out on love because of an assumed death.
• Because of Keats loved ones succumbing to death so often in life it's easy to see why he assumes he (or the narrator) believes death is so imminent. These losses provoke his own fear of loss and is a constant in mind when thinking of prospective love

Keats, John.. "When I have Fears That I May Cease to Be" The Norton Anthology of World Literature Volume E. 403-407.